Save Article

Malan Promises to Appear
Before Congress if Called

Dow Jones Newswires

Updated April 30, 1999 12:01 a.m. ET

NEW YORK -- Brazil's Finance Minister Pedro Malan said Thursday that he will appear before the Congressional committee investigating charges of insider trading involving the central bank if he's called to do so.

"If I'm invited, of course I'll be there," Mr. Malan said as he emerged from a luncheon in New York hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.

The probe is investigating charges that former Central Bank chief Francisco Lopes participated in an insider-trading scheme around the time of the currency devaluation last January.

Mr. Lopes was detained by police Monday after refusing to testify under oath before Congress. Although he was later released on a bond, the news hit stock and currency prices Tuesday as well as some Brady bonds.

Senate leader Antonio Carlos Magalhaes has said he favors calling Mr. Malan before investigators to testify about why Mr. Lopes was dismissed after just two weeks on the job. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, however, has opposed the idea.

Asked whether he thought he was likely to be subpoenaed by the probe, Mr. Malan said that was a matter for Congress to decide.

Mr. Malan is on a brief trip to Washington, D.C. and New York to promote Brazil's improved standing in financial markets.

Malan Promises to Appear
Before Congress if Called

NEW YORK -- Brazil's Finance Minister Pedro Malan said Thursday that he will appear before the Congressional committee investigating charges of insider trading involving the central bank if he's called to do so.